Spider Squad
"Yeah, me and Gwen got bitten by these messed-up mutated spiders, and then Harry's skin went all green so he decided to join in, and then it turned out I had a clone... it's a weird group, honestly." The Spider Squad, or sometimes simply the Spiders, are a group of heroes. Their purpose is to protect world stability from interior or exterior threats, though most of their action is focused within a select group of villains who operate in and around Queens, New York. The Spider Squad started as merely a team-up between Gwen Stacy and Peter Parker when they were bitten by genetically mutated spiders on a school field trip to Oscorp Laboratories. Together, Gwen and Peter became Spider-Man and Spider-Woman. Later on, they were joined by Harry Osborn, who assumed the identity of Hobgoblin, and Peter's clone/adopted sister Jessica Parker, who went by the name Arachne. History Spider-Man and Spider-Woman The Field Trip Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, life-long best friends and students of Midtown School of Science and Technology attended a field trip orchestrated Oscorp in order for the institute to show off their new technologies and encourage graduating students to apply for internships. Despite being only fifteen at the time, Parker and Stacy were encouraged to attend by one of their teachers, Otto Octavius, who especially saw great potential in Peter. Once there, Stacy encouraged Parker to try to sneak around in areas where the students were not permitted because she had heard that Oscorp was participating in illegal experimentation on animals. However, once they managed to find what they thought was the site of the illegal testing, both of them were bitten by a stray spider, causing them to reject their initial plan and rejoin their group. Strange Abilities Parker and Stacy both quickly noticed changes in their physical appearance, with both of them gaining muscle mass rather quickly and as a result becoming much stronger and more agile. They also soon realized that they both had gained the ability to project webs from their fingers, and a multitude of other spider-like abilities. Quickly deducing that their newfound strengths had come from being bitten by the spider in Oscorp's labs, they decided that it was in their best interests to lay low and just try to live normal lives despite their strange new abilities. The Realization and Aunt Beth The turning point for both of them came when Peter's Aunt Beth was injured in an attempted mugging. She lived, but only because despite vowing not to use his powers, Peter was able to deliver a life-saving attack on the mugger using his web powers long enough to distract him so they could escape. This was the moment that made Peter and Gwen realize that they shouldn't sit idly by while they have the ability to help others with their powers. It was here that Parker and Stacy created the identities of Spider-Man and Spider-Woman, making super-suits in order to disguise themselves while doing their vigilante work. They set about fighting crime in Queens. Oscorp Gets Involved The Prodigal Son After studying abroad at a boarding school in England, Harry Osborn got word that his father needed him in New York. Therefore, despite word from his father that he would be allowed to graduate, he left England and headed back to America. Norman Osborn had been fighting a terminal illness (Viridistatera Dolosa), and as a result his skin had turned green and scaly. Norman revealed to his son that he had been experimenting on animals in order to perfect a formula that could cure his illness, and that he knew that Parker and Stacy had managed to gain its effects. He therefore recruited Harry to help him effectively de-power them.